


Three In The Morning

by kingsofhawkins



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Abusive Neil Hargrove, Billy Hargrove Needs a Hug, Billy gets a haircut, I’m still not over this, M/M, Soft Steve, These boy just want love, They’re just friends but it kinda nudges towards more at the end, Understandable, hurt billy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:26:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22314775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingsofhawkins/pseuds/kingsofhawkins
Summary: Steve wakes up at three in the morning to Billy on his front porch
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 3
Kudos: 201





	Three In The Morning

Steve is sleeping when his front door bell rings, it takes a few buzzes before he wakes up. He sits up in bed groggily as he checks the time, three in the fucking morning, who the fuck is ringing his door bell at ass crack o’clock? Steve groans and thinks about ignoring but then a sinking feeling settles in his gut and he’s jumping out of bed to run down the stairs. He throws the front door open expecting to see one of the kids but he’s sorely mistaken when he sees one Billy Hargrove sitting on the porch steps shivering uncontrollably.

“Billy?” Steve’s asks, confusion clear in his tone.

Billy doesn’t say anything he just gets up from the steps and shoulders his way past Steve, it’s unusual even for Billy considering that these past few months the teens been trying to make amends with everyone, especially Steve. 

“It’s three in the morning.” Steve says as he shuts the front door, not bothering with locking it.

“Hmm.” Billy grunts as he starts to walk his way up the stairs.

Steve follows him and they end up in his room, Steve sitting on his bed while Billy paces with his head down.

“So are you gonna tell me why you showed up at my house at three in the morning? Or am I suppose to take a guess?” Billy looks at him and pushes his hood down, Steve’s stomach lurches.

Billy’s face is bruised and bloodied. His left eye is swollen shut and the other is bloodshot, his nose seems to be swollen as well most likely a break and his lip has multiple spilts.

“Billy.” Steve stands from his bed and walks over to the teen, he flinches when Steve raises his hand.

Billy looks scared, he’s shaking and Steve’s pretty sure he’s crying.

“Okay c’mon, lets get you into a shower.” Steve steers Billy into his attached bathroom and starts the shower for him.

He tries not to watch Billy strip because if his face is bad he can’t imagine what his body looks like. Billy steps into the shower and Steve sits on the toilet, watching incase Billy’s knees decide to give out, the last thing they need is him hitting his head if he falls.

“Are we gonna talk about it?” Steve asks as he watches Billy scrub his face free of blood.

“No.” Billy murmurs.

“Okay.” Steve wants to push to find out what happened but obviously Billy’s not ready to talk and he will respect that.

The shower takes a good twenty minutes before Billy’s clear of blood, when he steps out Steve gets a good look at him without meaning too. Billy’s whole torso is mottled with bruises and cuts, nothing too bad or in need of stitching but terrible all the same. There looks to be swelling around his ribs which could entail a break but Steve highly doubts Billy wants to be rushed to the hospital right now. Steve hands Billy a towel and leaves the teen to dry himself off, Steve leaves him in favour of going downstairs to grab frozen peas for his eye and nose which Steve will have to break again if it’s set and that’s not something he thought he’d be doing at three in the morning on a Sunday.

“Here, for the eye.” Steve holds out the frozen peas for Billy to take when he walks back into the bathroom.

Billy is leaning his hips against the vanity, he’s looking at himself in the mirror prodding his face with his finger. Billy takes the peas and holds the pack up to his eye a shaky sigh leaving his cracked lips in relief.

“I need to take a look at your nose.” Billy doesn’t question Steve just adjusts the frozen peas for easier access.

Steve frowns as he gets a look, it seems to be okay, a little crooked but not so much that it needs to be reset. Did Billy do it when he was in the shower? Because Steve swears it was worse when he first showed up. 

“Alright, I just need to ask a few questions, nothing personal don’t worry. I just need to make sure nothing’s too serious so we can avoid a trip to the ER.” Steve helps Billy into his room and gets him to sit on the bed.

“All I need is a yes or a no. You can breath fine right?” Steve eyes at Billy’s ribs.

“Yes.” Billy answers.

“Good, no pierced lungs. Next, does anything feel broken?” Steve doesn’t think there is but better safe then sorry.

“No.” Steve nods, good that’s all he wanted to know.

“I’m gonna get you some pain meds to help with... everything I guess? Stay here.” Steve walks downstairs into the kitchen where his mother keeps the medicine.

He grabs aspirin and a sleeping pill just incase, he fills a glass cup up with tap water before going back to Billy.

“Aspirin and a sleeping pill if you want.” Steve shows the two pills and Billy takes the aspirin but leaves the sleeping pill.

He chases it down with the water before groaning softly.

“Is there anything else I can get for you?” Steve asks because he’s already on his feet so he might as well.

“Do you have clippers?” It’s an odd question but Steve nods.

“Yeah, they’re in my parents bathroom.” The clippers belong to his dad, he’d gotten them back when Steve was young and had gotten bubblegum caught in his hair, instead of just cutting it out he had shaved his head right down to the scalp as some sort of punishment.

Billy doesn’t say anything just looks at Steve.

“Do you want me to go get them?” Billy nods.

Right. Steve turns around and goes to his parents room, he searches for the clippers in his fathers side of the vanity and finds them at the back wrapped in a pouch that holds different attachments. Steve brings it back to Billy and finds the teen standing in the bathroom and Steve hates that he only now realises what’s going on.

“Are you sure?” Steve asks as he sets down the clippers.

Billy is quiet.

“You love your hair Billy, I don’t, just, are you sure? Like a hundred percent?” He doesn’t want him regretting it as soon as it’s gone.

“I don’t want something that my father uses as a handle when he beats me. So yes, I’m sure.” And okay Steve knows his father abuses him, Max isn’t exactly the greatest secret keeper and Billy’s mentioned a million times that his dad’s an asshole so it shouldn’t come as a surprise but it does.

How could someone you call blood beat the fucking life out of you like that? Steve feels his heart clench because he always thought he had it bad with his dad, always looking down at him because Steve could never amount to anything worthwhile but now he knows what real abuse looks like and he hates it.

“Do you want me to help?” Steve pulls the clippers out and plugs it in.

“Yeah.” Billy squeezes his eyes shut when Steve turns the clippers on, they buzz happily as Steve gently grabs Billy’s hair and runs it over his scalp, dropping the curls into the sink.

Steve tries to style it into an undercut and it doesn’t look too bad, he’ll have to go in with some scissors to clean up the top but other then that it looks okay. Steve glances at Billy in the mirror and smiles softly.

“Man with all that hair I never realised your ears stick out.” Steve mentions as he tugs on the dangly earring in Billy’s lobe.

“My mom use to say that it gave me character but kids are cruel and I got picked on a lot so I grew my hair out, it was the last thing I had to remind me of my mom, she had the same curls.” Steve smiles sadly, thumb coming to rub at the nape of Billy’s neck.

“I would’ve loved to have met her, sounded like an amazing women. Anyways, all done, I’ll come back with some scissors after to neaten it.” Billy opens his eyes and stares at himself in the mirror.

“You look younger.” Steve says what he hopes comes across helpfully.

“I haven’t looked like this since I was thirteen.” Billy runs a hand through the top and over the sides.

“I’ll get the scissors.” Steve walks into his room and grabs the scissors on his desk, they’ll have to do.

When he walks back in Billy’s touching a few curls in the sink.

“It’ll grow back by the time he’s out of your life.” Steve says softly, hand coming to rest on Billy’s shoulder.

Billy nods and wipes at his eyes, rubbing away tears.

Steve fixes the top for him and then collects the blond hair, he drops it into his trash can and tucks it away out of sight so Billy doesn’t have to see.

“Here, I thought maybe just one.” Steve hands over a small curl, as a reminder. Billy takes it and holds it tight in his hand.

“Thank you.” Billy says, emotions so raw it makes Steve’s eyes water.

“It’s what friends do.” Steve shuffles Billy out of the bathroom and back over to his bed, Steve hands him a pair of flannel pj pants and turns around for him to change.

When Billy is done, Steve let’s him get under the covers.

“Well you can sleep in here, I’ll go sleep in my parents room and we can talk about it tomorrow if you like.” Steve starts to head to the door but Billy grabs his hand.

“Stay.” Steve doesn’t need anymore reason and slides into bed beside Billy.

They face each other, noses practically touching when Steve runs a hand through Billy’s hair.

“You’re safe now, you’re okay. I’ll always look out for you no matter what, you can trust me. I promise.” Steve rubs his nose against Billy’s and pulls him impossibly closer.

Billy sighs and wraps an arm around Steve’s waist, it’s stepping out of the friend zone into something entirely different but Steve’s too tired to care right now because it’s three in the morning on a Sunday and there’s hair in his trash can and a bag of not so frozen peas at the end of his bed and a pile of bloody clothes in his bathroom waiting to be washed and a boy who just wants to be loved in his arms. Steve is too tired to care about anything other than falling asleep wrapped around Billy Hargrove.


End file.
